Fox News Poll: Voters say taxes are too high, want reform this year

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What should you do with your tax refund?

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The Trump administration’s pivot from health care to taxes should find a receptive audience.  More than half of voters feel their taxes are too high, and nearly three-quarters think the tax system should be reformed this year -- but just one-third expect their taxes to go down under President Trump.

In fact, when the latest Fox News Poll asked voters what’s the one thing they really want President Trump to accomplish, “cut taxes” is topped only by “create jobs” and “destroy ISIS.”

The national poll of registered voters was conducted March 12-14 -- before House Republicans pulled the health care replacement bill.

A majority, 55 percent, thinks they pay too much in taxes, down from a record 63 percent in March 2015.

Forty percent say their tax bill is “about right,” and two percent think Uncle Sam takes too little.

READ THE FULL FOX NEWS POLL RESULTS.

Forty-five percent of Democrats think their taxes are “too high,” down from 61 percent who said the same in 2015.  Seven in ten Republicans continue to think the taxes they pay are too high (68 percent in 2015 and 2017).

Voters living in households with annual income over $50,000 (55 percent) as well as those making under $50,000 (53 percent) say they pay too much.

Trump promised tax reform this year and 73 percent of voters want to see this happen.  That includes an overwhelming majority of Republicans (87 percent), most independents (75 percent), as well as a majority of Democrats (61 percent).

Nearly half of voters, 49 percent, think their taxes will go up under the Trump administration.  That’s fewer than the 60 percent who, in January 2009, thought the incoming Obama administration would raise their taxes.  And it’s far fewer than the 75 percent who believed taxes would increase under Obama when the question was asked again in August 2009.

The poll finds 36 percent of voters expect their taxes will decrease under the new GOP administration.  Republicans (66 percent) are alone in thinking their taxes will go down under Trump.

“It says a lot about the lack of faith in Trump’s efficacy that so few voters believe he will succeed in lowering their taxes," says Democratic Pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Republican counterpart Daron Shaw.  “And this poll was conducted prior to his failure to replace Obamacare.”

The numbers among white men without a college degree, one of Trump’s strongest voting blocs in the election, invite comparison to Republicans overall:  Fewer say taxes are too high (58 percent) and still fewer think they’ll go down under Trump (54 percent).

Those living in lower-income households (60 percent) are more likely than those in higher-income households (44 percent) to think their taxes will go up under Trump.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,008 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from March 12-14, 2017.  The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.